Instant Takeaways From BYU’s Loss Against Texas Tech
Jan 7, 2025, 10:01 PM | Updated: Jan 8, 2025, 11:08 am
PROVO, Utah – The BYU basketball team suffered their first home loss of the season after coming up short against Texas Tech 72-67.
Texas Tech made five more three-point buckets en route to the road win. More on that in my takeaways.
Second half defense wasn’t sharp
BYU had several chances to win this basketball game. However, their inability to get stops late in the game was the difference.
Overall, the Cougars held Texas Tech below their scoring average, but 40 points given up in the second half was too many.
Texas Tech's offense showed up in the final eight minutes. The Red Raiders were 9 of 13 from the field.
— Mitch Harper (@Mitch_Harper) January 8, 2025
The Red Raiders scored 24 points in the final 10 minutes of the game and BYU couldn’t keep pace.
On several occasions, Red Raider forward Darrion Williams backed his way into the paint for easy buckets. He finished with 18 points while making 7 of his 11 field goals.
“Late game defensive execution was bad,” said head coach Kevin Young. BYU wasn’t able to get Williams to pass the ball late and he punished them down the stretch.
Cold three-point shooting for BYU
You wouldn’t have known this watching the game, but this Big 12 battle featured two teams who ranked top 50 in three-point makes per game.
BYU was ice-cold from deep only making five of their 23 attempts from the three-point line. It was a season low for made three-point field goals and three-point field goal percentage.
It's one of those nights from deep. #BYU is getting good looks but they aren't falling. #BYUhoops
— Matthew Baiamonte (@baiamontematt) January 8, 2025
Young noted in his post game commentary that he liked the way his team played offensively, but unfortunately shots didn’t fall.
One potential bright spot was a late long ball made from Egor Demin. He’s really struggled the shooting the ball since returning from injury.
It was his first made three-point shot since the loss against Ole Miss down in San Diego.
He was 1 for 5 from deep in the loss and he’s 1 for 13 since returning from injury. Perhaps seeing the ball go through the net will help Demin break out of his shooting slump.
BYU outrebounded by Texas Tech
The Cougars lost the battle of the boards 39-36.
In both conference losses, BYU has been outrebounded.
Even admist a small losing streak, the Cougars are top 10 in the country in rebound margin.
Keba Keita with double digit rebounds for the sixth time this season and 10th time in his collegiate career.#BYUHoops #GoCougs
— BYU Game Notes (@BYUGameNotes) January 8, 2025
Point guard Dallin Hall noted post game that the guards need to do a better job helping the bigs on the glass.
You can hear Matt Baiamonte every Saturday on KSL Newsradio for Cougar Sports Saturday from 12:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. or you can find him on Twitter @baiamontematt here.
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